Eighteen species of rickettsiae are reported to cause infections in humans. One of these is Rickettsia helvetica, which is endemic in European and Asian countries and transmitted by the tick Ixodes ricinus. Besides fever, it has been demonstrated to cause meningitis and is also associated with perimyocarditis. One of the initial targets for rickettsiae after inoculation by ticks is the macrophage/monocyte. How rickettsiae remain in the macrophages/monocytes before establishing their infection in vascular endothelial cells remains poorly understood. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the impact on and survival of R. helvetica in a human leukemic monocytic cell line, THP-1. Our results show that R. helvetica survives and propagates in the THP-1 cells. The infection in monocytes was followed for seven days by qPCR and for 30 days by TEM, where invasion of the nucleus was also observed as well as double membrane vacuoles containing rickettsiae, a finding suggesting that R. helvetica might induce autophagy at the early stage of infection. Infected monocytes induced TNF-α which may be important in host defence against rickettsial infections and promote cell survival and inhibiting cell death by apoptosis. The present findings illustrate the importance of monocytes to the pathogenesis of rickettsial disease.Islands are separated by natural barriers that prevent gene flow between terrestrial populations and promote allopatric diversification. Birds in the South Pacific are an excellent model to explore the interplay between isolation and gene flow due to the region's numerous archipelagos and well-characterized avian communities. The wattled honeyeater complex (Foulehaio spp.) comprises three allopatric species that are widespread and common across Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and Wallis and Futuna. Here, we explored patterns of diversification within and among these lineages using genomic and morphometric data. We found support for three clades of Foulehaio corresponding to three recognized species. Within F. carunculatus, population genetic analyses identified nine major lineages, most of which were composed of sub-lineages that aligned nearly perfectly to individual island populations. Despite genetic structure and great geographic distance between populations, we found low levels of gene flow between populations in adjacent archipelagos. Additionally, body size of F. carunculatus varied randomly with respect to evolutionary history (as Ernst Mayr predicted), but correlated negatively with island size, consistent with the island rule. Our findings support a hypothesis that widespread taxa can show population structure between immediately adjacent islands, and likely represent many independent lineages loosely connected by gene flow.
The purpose of this article is to review the pathophysiologic mechanisms, differential diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of the various manifestations of ocular allergy, with an especial focus on immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated disease.

A PubMed search was performed to include articles, using the search terms ocular allergy and allergic conjunctivitis.

Recent and relevant human studies in the English language pertaining to our topic of study were selected. Animal studies pertaining to pathophysiology of ocular allergy were also reviewed. We focused on clinical trials, practice guidelines, reviews, and systematic reviews. In addition, case reports were reviewed if they described rare clinical presentations, disease mechanisms, or novel therapies.

Ocular allergy encompasses both IgE- and non-IgE-mediated disease, and the clinical severity may range from mild to sight-threatening inflammation. A comprehensive treatment regimen including education, lifestyle measures, topical therapies, and even systemic interventions may be necessary for the effective management of ocular allergies, tailored according to symptom severity.

Ocular allergy is frequently encountered by allergists and eye-care specialists, and despite progressively increasing incidence, it often remains underdiagnosed and, hence, untreated.
Ocular allergy is frequently encountered by allergists and eye-care specialists, and despite progressively increasing incidence, it often remains underdiagnosed and, hence, untreated.
Halitosis of oral origin is mainly caused by the release of H
S (hydrogen sulfide) by bacteria lodged on the tongue. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) has been evaluated for the treatment of halitosis, but there are no previous reports of the use of this treatment modality in older people with dentures. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of aPDT and tongue scraping (standard treatment) in older people with complete dentures diagnosed with halitosis (H2S gas concentration>112 ppb).

The participants were divided into two groups G1- treatment with a tongue scraper (n = 20); G2- treatment with aPDT (n = 20). Halimeter testing was performed before and after treatments using gas chromatography and was repeated after seven days.

After treatment, the group treated with aPDT had a lower mean concentration of H2S gas (18.5 ppb) than the tongue scraping group (185.3 ppb). After one week, the mean concentration of H2S increased to 218.2 ppb in the tongue scraping group and 39 ppb in the PDT group.

Both treatments were able to reduce the concentration of H2S but only treatment with aPDT was able to decrease halitosis to socially unnoticeable levels. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/selnoflast.html Moreover, this normal breath condition remained for seven days only in the aPDT group.
Both treatments were able to reduce the concentration of H2S but only treatment with aPDT was able to decrease halitosis to socially unnoticeable levels. Moreover, this normal breath condition remained for seven days only in the aPDT group.
Skin erythema may present due to many causes. One of the common causes is prolonged exposure to sun rays. Other than sun exposure, skin erythema is an accompanying sign of dermatological diseases such as acne, psoriasis, melasma, post inflammatory hyperpigmentation, fever, as well as exposure to specific electromagnetic wave bands.

Quantifying skin erythema in patients enables the dermatologist to assess the patient's skin health. Therefore, quantitative assessment of skin erythema was the target of several studies. The clinical standard for erythema evaluation is visual assessment. However, the former standard has some imperfections. For instance, it is subjective, and unqualified for precise color information exchange. To overcome these shortcomings, the past three decades witnessed various methodologies that aimed to achieve erythema objective assessment, such as diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and both optical and non-optical systems.

This review article reports on the studies published in the past three decades where the performance, the mathematical tactics for computation, and the capabilities of erythema assessment techniques for cutaneous diseases are discussed.

Decidualization of human endometrial stromal cells (HESCs) is a vital step for successful pregnancy. However, the process by which micro-RNAs (miRNAs) regulate decidualization remains elusive. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/BMS-754807.html Our current study was designed to identify the mechanism of miRNA miR-542-3p and its potential targets in regulating decidualization. The results showed that miR-542-3p was down-regulated in HESCs. Luciferase assay confirmed that integrin-linked kinase (ILK) is a direct target of miR-542-3p. Overexpression of miR-542-3p resulted in decreased ILK and downstream transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and SMAD family member 2 (SMAD2) expression. Additional expression of ILK attenuates the miR542-3p-induced down-regulation of TGF-β1 and SMAD2, changes properties such as suppression of proliferation and invasion, and induction of apoptosis, thereby affecting the differentiation of HESCs. Moreover, miR-542-3p overexpression caused down-regulation of the angiogenic factors vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and the supernatant of HESCs overexpressing miR-542-3p inhibited the formation of tubular structures in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), suggesting that miR-542-3p inhibits angiogenesis of HUVECs. Furthermore, in our mouse model, following injection of miR-542-3p mimic into the endometrium of mice at pregnancy day 8 (D8), we found decreased miR-542-3p expression and loss of embryo implantation sites. In conclusion, miR-542-3p can affect the process of endometrial decidualization by down-regulating ILK. The present study adds further understanding of the process and regulation of decidualization.The present study investigated variations in patient movement patterns between prescribers before and after House Bill 1 (HB1) implementation in Kentucky using network abstractions (PPN prescriber-prescriber networks) from a one-month cross-sectional Schedule III prescription data in a Medicaid population. Network characteristics such as degree centrality distribution of PPN was positively skewed and revealed Dental Practitioners to be the highly connected specialty with opioid analgesic hydrocodone-acetaminophen to be the most commonly prescribed drug. Taxonomy enrichment of the prescriber specialties in PPN using chi-square test revealed a reduction in the enriched taxonomies Post-HB1 compared to Pre-HB1 with Dental practitioners being constitutively enriched (p  less then  0.05). PPNs were also found to exhibit rich community structure revealing inherent clustering of prescribers as a result of patient movement, and were markedly different from those generated by random graph models. The magnitude of deviation from random graphs decreased Post-HB1 relative to Pre-HB1. The proposed network approach provides system-level insights into prescribers with potential to complement classical reductionist approaches and aggregate statistical measures used in assessing changes in prescription patterns pre- and post- policy implementation. It can provide preliminary cues into drug seeking behavior, and facilitate targeted surveillance of prescriber communities.Derelict abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear have profound adverse effects. We assessed gear-specific relative risks from derelict gear to rank-order fishing methods based on derelict gear production rates, gear quantity indicators of catch weight and fishing grounds area, and adverse consequences from derelict gear. The latter accounted for ghost fishing, transfer of microplastics and toxins into food webs, spread of invasive alien species and harmful microalgae, habitat degradation, obstruction of navigation and in-use fishing gear, and coastal socioeconomic impacts. Globally, mitigating highest risk derelict gear from gillnet, tuna purse seine with fish aggregating devices, and bottom trawl fisheries achieves maximum conservation gains. Locally, adopting controls following a sequential mitigation hierarchy and implementing effective monitoring, surveillance and enforcement systems are needed to curb derelict gear from these most problematic fisheries. Primary and synthesis research are priorities to improve future risk assessments, produce the first robust estimate of global derelict gear quantity, and assess the performance of initiatives to manage derelict gear. Findings from this first quantitative estimate of gear-specific relative risks from derelict gear guide the allocation of resources to achieve the largest improvements from mitigating adverse effects of derelict gear from the world's 4.6 million fishing vessels.The pathogenesis of severe COVID-19 reflects an inefficient immune reaction to SARS-CoV-2. Here we analyze, at the single cell level, plasmablasts egressed into the blood to study the dynamics of adaptive immune response in COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care. Before seroconversion in response to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, peripheral plasmablasts display a type 1 interferon-induced gene expression signature; however, following seroconversion, plasmablasts lose this signature, express instead gene signatures induced by IL-21 and TGF-β, and produce mostly IgG1 and IgA1. In the sustained immune reaction from COVID-19 patients, plasmablasts shift to the expression of IgA2, thereby reflecting an instruction by TGF-β. Despite their continued presence in the blood, plasmablasts are not found in the lungs of deceased COVID-19 patients, nor does patient IgA2 binds to the dominant antigens of SARS-CoV-2. Our results thus suggest that, in severe COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 triggers a chronic immune reaction that is instructed by TGF-β, and is distracted from itself.Benthic cyanobacterial mats (BCMs) are becoming increasingly common on coral reefs. In Fiji, blooms generally occur in nearshore areas during warm months but some are starting to prevail through cold months. Many fundamental knowledge gaps about BCM proliferation remain, including their composition and how they influence reef processes. This study examined a seasonal BCM bloom occurring in a 17-year-old no-take inshore reef area in Fiji. Surveys quantified the coverage of various BCM-types and estimated the biomass of key herbivorous fish functional groups. Using remote video observations, we compared fish herbivory (bite rates) on substrate covered primarily by BCMs (> 50%) to substrate lacking BCMs ( less then  10%) and looked for indications of fish (opportunistically) consuming BCMs. Samples of different BCM-types were analysed by microscopy and next-generation amplicon sequencing (16S rRNA). In total, BCMs covered 51 ± 4% (mean ± s.e.m) of the benthos. Herbivorous fish biomass was relatively high (212 ± 36 kg/ha) with good representation across functional groups.

This successful series on mite ontogeny and morphological diversity has published three volumes (Zhang et al. 2018, 2019, 2020). I am happy to announce here the publication of another volume. This volume consists of seven papers one on Mesostigmata (Ma et al. 2020), three on Oribatida (Seniczak et al. 2020a,b; Fan et al. 2020) and three on Trombidiformes (Gu et al. 2020; Wu et al. 2020; Xu et al. 2020).). I am grateful to my co-editors (Dr Marut Fuangarworn, Dr Qing-Hai Fan Dr Tianci Yi) and the reviewers for their support. I also thank all the authors for their contributions.The 'plain pumpkin-beetle', indica species-complex of Aulacophora Chevrolat, 1836, is revised for Australopapua, Timor and the West Pacific. The species-complex is defined and the following eight included species are diagnosed and described A. abdominalis (Fabricius, 1781); A. barrogae Reid, Halling Beatson, sp. nov.; A. cornuta Baly, 1879; A. indica (Gmelin, 1790); A. mbabaram Reid, Halling Beatson, sp. nov.; A. relicta (Boisduval, 1835); A. wallacii Baly, 1886; A. wilsoni Baly, 1888. The three other similar species in the region of interest, A. bicolor (Weber, 1801), A coffeae (Weber, 1801) and A. deplanchei (Perroud Montrouzier, 1864), are diagnosed from the Aulacophora indica species-complex and a key is provided for all 11 species. New synonyms are noted as follows (senior synonym first) A. abdominalis (Fabricius, 1781) = A. argyrogaster (Montrouzier, 1861) syn. nov., = A. fabricii Baly, 1886 syn. nov., = A. armigera Baly, 1889 syn. nov., = A. aruensis (Weise, 1892) syn. nov., = A. fauveli Beenen, 2008 suted as follows A. barrogae, A. mbabaram, A. relicta and A. wilsoni are endemic to Australia; A. abdominalis is widespread in the southwestern Pacific and Melanesia, west to Timor and east to Niue, but is absent from mainland Australia; A. cornuta is widespread from eastern India to Melanesia as far east as Guadalcanal; A. indica is widespread from India southeast to Timor and northeast to Guam, and adventitious further south and east, but absent from, or not established in, Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu; A. wallacii is endemic to Timor. Native hosts are unknown for any species, but A. abdominalis, A. indica, A. relicta and A. wallacii are pests of exotic cucurbit crops.We present novel rearing records of Agromyzidae (Diptera) from throughout the United States. We describe leaf mines or other larval habits for 27 species, plus five others whose identification is tentative, and another five that are identified only to genus due to the absence of male specimens. We review host and distribution data for the known species, reporting 26 new host species records (including the first rearing records for Phytomyza flexuosa Spencer, P. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/umi-77.html notopleuralis Spencer, and (tentatively identified) Ophiomyia frosti Spencer) and 25 new state records (including the first USA records for P. krygeri Hering, P. thermarum (Griffiths), and (tentatively identified) Liriomyza cracentis Lonsdale). We also describe and provide natural history information for the following 13 new species Haplopeodes loprestii Eiseman Lonsdale, Liriomyza euphorbivora Eiseman Lonsdale, L. hypopolymnia Eiseman Lonsdale, Melanagromyza arnoglossi Eiseman Lonsdale, M. gentianivora Eiseman Lonsdale, M. hieracii Eiseman Lonsdale, M. rudbeckiae Eiseman Lonsdale, M. urticae Eiseman Lonsdale, M. verbenivora Eiseman Lonsdale, Ophiomyia nabali Eiseman Lonsdale, O. rugula Eiseman Lonsdale, Phytomyza flavilonicera Eiseman Lonsdale, and P. triostevena Eiseman Lonsdale.Twenty-four species of Orbiniidae, 12 new to science, are reported from continental shelf and slope (deep-sea) habitats of the western North Atlantic. The majority of new material was collected during reconnaissance and monitoring surveys along the entire U.S. Atlantic coast from New England to the Carolinas that were intended to understand the potential impacts of oil and gas exploration in poorly known offshore environments. Additional materials from shallow water and shelf habitats off New England and New York as part of other projects are also included. New collections of Califia schmitti (Pettibone, 1957), Leitoscoloplos acutus (Verrill, 1873), L. fragilis (Verrill, 1873), L. obovatus Mackie, 1987, L. robustus (Verrill, 1873), Scoloplos intermedius (Hartman, 1965), Orbinia swani (Pettibone, 1957), Phylo felix (Kinberg, 1866), P. norvegicus (Sars, 1872), P. ornatus (Verrill, 1873), and Questa trifurcata (Hobson, 1970) provide additional morphological details, variability, and extended geographic and bathymetric distributions of previously known species. New species include Leitoscoloplos pustulus n. sp., Scoloplos papillatus n. sp., S. pettiboneae n. sp., S. pseudoarmiger n. sp., S. verrilli n. sp., Leodamas cuneatus n. sp., L. mucronatus n. sp., L. notoaciculatus n. sp., Phylo paraornatus n. sp., Orbiniella acsara n. sp., O. armata n. sp., and O. mimica n. sp. Juveniles of some species of Leitoscoloplos and Scoloplos were found to resemble known species of the meiofaunal orbiniid genus Schroederella Laubier, 1962. As such, S. berkeleyi Laubier, 1971 is referred to synonymy with Leitoscoloplos acutus. More importantly, the genus Schroederella was found to be pre-occupied by Schroederella Enderlein, 1921 in the Insecta, Diptera, family Helomyzidae. Gesaschroederella nomen nov. is therefore proposed as a replacement name for the polychaete homonym.An illustrated and updated checklist of the Indian Chrysididae is presented, including synonyms and distributional summaries. The list includes 105 species in 20 genera. Six species are described as new Elampus gladiator Rosa, sp. nov. (Himachal Pradesh, Jammu Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh), Chrysis aswathiae Rosa, sp. nov. (Tamil Nadu, elegans species group), Chrysis baldocki Rosa, sp. nov. (Tamil Nadu, smaragdula group), Chrysis bernasconii Rosa, sp. nov. (Tamil Nadu, subsinuata group), Chrysis polita Rosa, sp. nov. (West Bengal, Uttaranchal, Myanmar, ignita group), and Chrysis travancoriana Rosa, sp. nov. (Kerala and Tamil Nadu, praecipua group). Six species are newly recorded Chrysis hecate Mocsáry, 1889; Chrysis jalala Nurse, 1902; Chrysis obscura Smith, 1860; Istiochrysis ziliolii Rosa Xu, 2016; Praestochrysis furcifera (Bingham, 1903); Primeuchroeus siamensis (Bischoff, 1910). Two new synonymies are proposed Chrysis abuensis Nurse, 1902, syn. nov. of Chrysis wroughtoni du Buysson, 1896b; Chrysis nursei Bingham, 1903 syn.

Right here, we offer a cost-efficient route to produce master and working cell banks for basic research tasks. In inclusion https://stemcells-inhibitors.com/effect-of-ultrasonic-irradiation-turn-on-sonochemical-activity-of-gold-nanoparticles/ , we explain minimal protocols for quality assurance including tests for sterility, viability, pluripotency, and genetic stability. © 2020 The Authors. Fundamental Protocol 1 growth of hiPSCs Fundamental Protocol 2 Cell financial of hiPSCs help Protocol 1 Pluripotency assessment by movement cytometry Support Protocol 2 Thawing control Viability and sterility Support Protocol 3 Potency, viral approval, and pluripotency Spontaneous differentiation and qRT-PCR help Protocol 4 identification Quick tandem repeat analysis.Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) offer therapeutic effects in lots of conditions. Contrary to initial hypotheses, they operate in a paracrine as opposed to a cellular way. To this end, extracellular vesicles (EVs) being found to mediate the healing results, even when gathered from MSC-conditioned mobile culture supernatants. Lacking self-replicating task being therefore small that MSC-EV preparations are sterilized by purification, EVs provide a few advantages as therapeutic agents over mobile therapeutics. At present, techniques allowing EV planning from larger volumes tend to be scarce and regularly require special gear. We now have developed a polyethylene glycol-based precipitation protocol allowing removal of EVs from several liters of conditioned method. MSC-EVs prepared using this technique have now been effectively put on a human graft-versus-host illness client and to several pet models. Even though method comes with a unique restrictions, it is rather ideal for the initial assessment of EV-based therapeutic approaches. Here, we introduce the technique at length and discuss all important tips. © 2020 The Authors. Basic Protocol 1 planning of MSC-conditioned medium for scaled MSC-EV manufacturing Basic Protocol 2 PEG precipitation OF MSC-EV from MSC-conditioned medium.Structures resembling whole organs, called organoids, tend to be produced utilizing pluripotent stem cells and 3D culturing methods. This relies on the power of cells to self-reorganize after dissociation. In combination with certain supplemented factors, differentiation is directed toward the formation of a few organ-like structures. Here, a protocol when it comes to generation of retinal organoids containing all seven retinal cellular types is explained. This protocol will not depend on Matrigel, and also by keeping the organoids single and separate all of the time, fusion is avoided and track of differentiation is improved. Comprehensive phenotypic characterization for the inside vitro-generated retinal organoids is achieved by the protocol for immunostaining outlined here. By researching different stages of retinal organoids, the decrease while increasing of particular cell populations can be determined. To become in a position to identify also small distinctions, it is necessary to quantify the immunofluorescent signals, which is why we have supplied an in depth protocol describing signal quantitation using the image-processing system Fiji. © 2020 The Authors. Basic Protocol 1 Differentiation protocol for 3D retinal organoids Fundamental Protocol 2 Immunostaining protocol for cryosections of retinal organoids help Protocol Embedding and sectioning protocol for 3D retinal organoids Fundamental Protocol 3 Quantitation protocol using Fiji. Physical exercise is a salient input to mental health and wellbeing. Current used psychology study suggests that physical activity of a higher strength is specially important for recovery from work-related effort spending. However, whether and just how moderate-to-vigorous quantities of physical activity influence recovery away from working communities remains ambiguous. Further, the process by which this commitment unfolds on a day-to-day basis features yet become mapped. We carried out a 10-day everyday diary research in a sample of 66 university students that incorporated goal measurements of actual activity and sleep to deal with these research spaces. We found that greater amounts of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were associated with leisure-time emotional detachment from daily college demands, which in turn related to longer timeframe sleep that diminished next-morning depletion. We discuss exactly how our findings advance a dynamic viewpoint regarding the intersection of physical exercise and data recovery from day-to-day that may be applied outside of working communities.We discuss how our findings advance a dynamic perspective of the intersection of exercise and data recovery from day-to-day that may be applied outside of working populations. receptor binding between MSA and healthy settings. Secondary targets had been to compare 5-hydroxytryptamine The GEPIA, Oncomine and GEO databases were analyzed to assess expression of YTHDC2 in NSCLC customers. Quantitative polymerase string response, western blot and immunohistochemistry were utilized to detect YTHDC2 expression in various NSCLC cell lines (H1299, H460, H292 and A549) and patients. The effects of YTHDC2 on NSCLC cellular lines (A549 and H1299) expansion and migration were used utilizing CCK8 and transwell assays. The potential target RNAs of YTHDC2 were gotten through the POSTAR database. Functional enrichment evaluation of YTHDC2 targeted RNAs was done utilising the Metascape database. GEPIA, Oncomine and GEO databases revealed reduced appearance of YTHDC2 in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cellular carcinoma (LUSC) customers. YTHDC2 expression wutic target for non-small mobile lung cancer tumors (NSCLC).Biocatalytic reaction networks integrate complex cascade changes via spatial localization of several enzymes confined within the mobile milieu. Inspired by nature's ingenuity, we prove that quick peptide-based cross-β amyloid nanotubular hybrids can advertise various kinds of cascade responses, from simple two-step, to multistep, to complex convergent cascades. The compartmentalizing ability of paracrystalline cross-β phases ended up being employed to colocalize sarcosine oxidase (SOX) and hemin as an artificial peroxidase. Further, the catalytic potential associated with amyloid nanotubes with bought arrays of imidazoles were utilized as hydrolase mimic. The SOX-hemin amyloid nanohybrids featuring a single extant chemical could incorporate different logic networks to access complex digital styles with the aid of three concatenated AND gates and biologically relevant stimuli as inputs.

Changing through single-drug in order to fixed-dose permutations: experience coming from Fiji.
We propose a novel nonlinearity measure called normalized differential correlation (NDC) to efficiently highlight nonlinearly expressed genes in transcriptome datasets. Validation using six real-world cancer datasets revealed that the NDC method could highlight nonlinearly expressed genes that could not be highlighted by t-test, MIC, edgeR, and DEseq2, although MIC could capture nonlinear correlations. The classification accuracy indicated that analysis of these genes could adequately distinguish cancer and paracarcinoma tissue samples. Furthermore, the results of biological interpretation of the identified genes suggested that some of them were involved in key functional pathways associated with cancer progression and metastasis. All of this evidence suggests that these nonlinearly expressed genes may play a central role in regulating cancer progression. Copyright © 2020 Wang, Zhang, Liang, Jiang, Tan, Luo, Yuan and Chen.Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and is well known for its strong invasiveness, rapid recurrence, and poor prognosis. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to be involved in the development of various types of cancers, including colorectal cancer. Here, through transcriptomic analysis and functional screening, we reported that lncRNA LUCRC (LncRNA Upregulated in Colorectal Cancer) is highly expressed in colorectal tumor samples and is required for colorectal cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in cultured cells and tumorigenesis in xenografts. LUCRC was found to regulate target gene expression of unfolded protein response (UPR) in endoplasmic reticulum (ER), such as BIP. The clinical significance of LUCRC is underscored by the specific presence of LUCRC in blood plasma of patients with colorectal cancers. These findings revealed a critical regulator of colorectal cancer development, which might serve as a therapeutic target in colorectal cancer. Copyright © 2020 Tang, Chen, Ding, Du, Lin, Xia, Lian, Ye, He and Liu.Meta-analysis, which combines the results of multiple studies, is an important analytical method in genome-wide association studies. In genome-wide association studies practice, studies employing meta-analysis may have overlapping data, which could yield false positive results. Recent studies have proposed models to handle the issue of overlapping data when testing the genetic main effect of single nucleotide polymorphism. However, there is still no meta-analysis method for testing gene-environment interaction when overlapping data exist. Inspired by the methods of testing the main effect of gene with overlapping data, we proposed an overlapping meta-regulation method to address the issue in testing the gene-environment interaction. We generalized the covariance matrices of the regular meta-regression model by employing Lin's and Han's correlation structures to incorporate the correlations introduced by the overlapping data. Based on our proposed models, we further provided statistical significance tests of the gene-environment interaction as well as joint effects of the gene main effect and the interaction. Through simulations, we examined type I errors and statistical powers of our proposed methods at different levels of data overlap among studies. We demonstrated that our method well controls the type I error and simultaneously achieves statistical power comparable with the method that removes overlapping samples a priori before the meta-analysis, i.e., the splitting method. On the other hand, ignoring overlapping data will inflate the type I error. Unlike the splitting method that requires individual-level genotype and phenotype data, our proposed method for testing gene-environment interaction handles the issue of overlapping data effectively and statistically efficiently at the meta-analysis level. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/filgotinib.html'>https://www.selleckchem.com/products/filgotinib.html Copyright © 2020 Jin and Shi.Rotor syndrome, a rare autosomal-recessive genetic disorder characterized by conjugated hyperbilirubinemia, is caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in both SLCO1B1 and SLCO1B3 genes. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/filgotinib.html'>https://www.selleckchem.com/products/filgotinib.html Long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) make up about 17% of the human genome and insertion of LINE-1 in genes can result in genetic diseases. In the current study, we examined SLCO1B1 and SLCO1B3 genes in two Chinese patients diagnosed with Rotor syndrome based on laboratory tests. In one patient, a novel exon 4 inversion variant was identified. This variant may have been induced by LINE-1 retrotransposon insertion into SLCO1B3 intron 3, and was identified using genome walking. Splicing assay results indicated that the exon inversion, resulting in SLCO1B3 exon 4 (122 bp) exclusion in the mature mRNA, might generate a premature termination codon. Here, we describe an exon inversion contributing to the molecular etiology of Rotor syndrome. Our results may inform future diagnoses and guide drug prescriptions and genetic counseling. Copyright © 2020 Zhou, Qi, Zhang, Wu, Xu, Li, Zhang, Li, Jia, Wang, Jia, Ou, Huang and You.Angiogenesis is a crucial event during cancer progression that regulates tumor growth and metastasis. Activin receptor-like kinase 1 (ALK1), predominantly expressed in endothelial cells, plays a key role in the organization of neo-angiogenic vessels. Therapeutic targeting of ALK1 has been proposed as a promising strategy for cancer treatment, and microRNAs (miRNAs) are increasingly being explored as modulators of angiogenesis. However, the regulation of ALK1 by miRNAs is unclear. In this study, we identified that ALK1 is directly targeted by miR-199b-5p, which was able to inhibit angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, it was found that miR-199b-5p was repressed in breast cancer cells and its expression was decreased during the VEGF-induced angiogenesis process of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Overexpression of miR-199b-5p inhibited the formation of capillary-like tubular structures and migration of HUVECs. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-199b-5p inhibited the mRNA and protein expression of ALK1 in HUVECs by directly binding to its 3'UTR. Additionally, overexpression of miR-199b-5p attenuated the induction of ALK1/Smad/Id1 pathway by BMP9 in HUVECs. Finally, overexpression of miR-199b-5p reduced tumor growth and angiogenesis in in vivo. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the anti-angiogenic role of miR-199b-5p, which directly targets ALK1, suggesting that miR-199b-5p might be a potential anti-angiogenic target for cancer therapy. Copyright © 2020 Lin, Qiu, Xiao, Ma, Xu, Zhang, Gao, Chen, Li, Li and Qian.